F.C.C. Proposes Data Privacy Rules for Internet Providers

F.C.C. Proposes Data Privacy Rules for Internet Providers

Article excerpt

The rules call for broadband providers to disclose how data about
users' online browsing may be collected and require better security
for such data.

United States regulators have proposed a set of privacy rules for
Internet service providers that would significantly curb the ability
of companies like Comcast and Verizon to share data about their
customers' online activities with advertisers without permission
from users.

In the proposal, before the Federal Communications Commission,
the agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler, called for broadband service
providers to disclose clearly how data may be collected about users'
online browsing and other activities. The plan also called for the
companies to bolster the security of customer data.

The proposal, if approved, would for the first time establish
privacy rules for the companies that manage the traffic of the web
and would create some of the strongest privacy regulations for any
segment of the technology and telecommunications industries. They
represent the first major regulatory action involving broadband
providers after the F.C.C.'s declaration last year that high-speed
Internet carriers should be treated like utilities.

In a statement on Thursday, Mr. Wheeler said that since Internet
service providers handle all network traffic, the companies have a
"broad view of all of your unencrypted online activity." He added
that "even when data is encrypted, your broadband provider can piece
together significant amounts of information about you -- including
private information such as a chronic medical condition or financial
problems -- based on your online activity."

The proposed regulations would put broadband providers under
stronger privacy oversight than Internet companies like Google and
Facebook. Those companies are monitored by the Federal Trade
Commission, whose ability to create specific privacy rules is
limited.

Many privacy advocates have pushed for a greater role by other
agencies because the F.T.C. cannot create rules for online privacy
and can only monitor data collection practices as an enforcement
agency. "This is nothing short of a historic moment," Jeffrey
Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a
privacy advocacy group, said of the proposed new rules. …